religionists of the Ottoman Empire. Moreover, what were considered aggressions by the Russians in northern Persia, both before and during the war, caused intense resentment, and the British, as allies of the Russians, were also disliked.

The fighting between the Russians and the Turks was of an indecisive character, and the successes of the two armies alternated with remarkable regularity. The armies operating in this region were not large. The Russian force was based upon Tabriz, and consisted of 40,000 men under the command of General Baratoff. The Turkish army was probably somewhat smaller, and its base was at Bagdad, over two hundred miles from Kermanshah, but it had the advantage of operating in a friendly country. In January the Turks advanced and took Kermanshah, but two months later General Baratoff recaptured the town, and pressing rapidly onwards reached Ispahan before the end of March. This town is situated on what was regarded as the southern boundary of the Russian sphere. The Russians advanced westwards as far as the Turkish frontier, but the Turks were reinforced after the fall of Kut, and in June they won a victory and drove Baratoff's force back a considerable distance, nearly as far as Hamadan. In June and July the Turks were joined by large numbers of Persian irregular cavalry, and the Russians finding their communications threatened were compelled to abandon Hamadan and the surrounding country. Up to the end of the year the Turks maintained their hold on this part of Persian territory.

During the year the British began to organise a force of gendarmerie for southern Persia, General Sir Percy Sykes being placed in command. In those parts of northern Persia which were not actually the scene of military operations—that is, in the north-eastern districts-the Russians established a similar force of military police.

Changes occurred in the personnel of the Teheran Government, Sipah Salar becoming Premier in place of Prince Firman Firma, and M. Heinsens, a Belgian, being appointed TreasurerGeneral, on the advice of the two dominant Powers.

III. AFGHANISTAN.

The Amir of Afghanistan maintained his neutrality in the great war, and the principality did not become involved in the troubles of Persia. At the end of 1916 information was published concerning a German mission sent to Afghanistan in the previous year. It appears that the Emperor William had sent a German officer, Lieutenant von Hentig, accompanied by certain Indian revolutionaries who had resided in Berlin, on a mission to the Amir, with the object of inducing him to attack India. The members of the mission had succeeded in making their way through Persia, by breaking up into small parties, and they had remained in Afghanistan nearly a year. Nevertheless,

the Amir had refused the Turko-German proposals, and after the mission left Afghanistan in May, 1916, some of the members were captured by the Russians and British as they were trying to get back to Turkey.

IV. INDIA.

Few things illustrated more forcibly the fact that the British Empire is not a State but a congeries of States than the extremely unequal degree in which the war affected the different units. Thus the largest unit of the Empire was almost unruffled by the storm. The few thousands of volunteers who left India's shores to take part in the war were but a drop out of the ocean of India's millions. The affairs of the sub-continent were carried on in the normal manner, and in the calm of the Pax Britannica a stranger could hardly have guessed that the dominant Power was fighting, not indeed for its existence as a State, but for its great position in the world.

The year was thus mainly one of peaceful development, and in this the first matter which falls to be described is the Budget, which was presented to the Viceroy's Legislative Council at the end of February.

The Budget for 1915-16 finally showed the following figures :

From this last total, however, the sum of 657,300l. has to be deducted on account of moneys withdrawn from Provincial balances; thus the total expenditure to be met out of revenue was 84,606,500l., leaving an imperial deficit of 1,986,1007.

The chief item in the expenditure which had increased was that on military services, the increase being 1,626,300l. The net revenue from railways had increased by no less than 2,306,500l. There had, however, been a falling off in the revenue from customs, owing to war conditions, especially the scarcity of shipping. It was notable that the war had caused the bureaucracy to economise expenditure under various heads, and thus to retard the development of the dependency. In particular, there had been economies on education.

Passing on to the Budget of 1916-17, the following were the chief figures given out:

Imperial Revenue
Provincial Revenue

Total Revenue

£55,651,700

30,547,900

£86,199,600

From this total expenditure the sum of 364,9007. had to be deducted on account of moneys once more withdrawn from Provincial balances, and thus the total expenditure to be met out of revenue was 85,147,2007. Thus a small surplus was anticipated for the year 1916-17. Expenditure was restricted in all directions, but the economies on education were to be less severe than in the previous year, and increased expenditure on police had become necessary in some provinces. The expenditure on the Army was estimated at 23,000,0007.

The Budget provided for additional taxation under several heads-salt, income, excise, and customs. In regard to the increased income tax, this did not affect incomes below Rs. 5,000 a year, on which the rate remained at 5 pies per rupee, but above this income there were new rates, as follows :

9 pies

1 anna,,

This graduated income tax was a new feature, the rate of 5 pies having been general previously. The income tax could not be regarded as heavy, since the maximum rate now instituted was equivalent to only 1s. 3d. in the pound. In regard to customs, export duties were imposed upon jute and tea, which were expected to yield nearly 900,000l., and there were various increases in import duties. The jute industry had been extremely prosperous during the war. The general import duty was raised from 5 per cent. ad valorem to 7 per cent.

The Indian Empire was saved from the effects of the worldshortage of wheat by judicious State interference. The reader may remember that during the previous year the Indian Government had instituted a State monopoly of the export of Indian wheat in order to protect the Indian consumer from the effects of the shortage in other parts of the world, and the Government had been so successful in this that the prices ruling in India were roughly about twenty shillings lower than those ruling in England. This scheme was originally arranged to terminate on March 31, 1916, but in February it was announced that it would be continued indefinitely. The Government stated that after allowing for the normal consumption in India about two thousand tons of Indian wheat would be available per annum for export. In this way it came about that there was no shortage of bread in India.

In March an announcement of considerable interest to the poorer classes of the Indian population was made. On March 20 the Viceroy announced in the Legislative Council that the

1 Incomes below Rs. 1,000 paid no income tax.

system of Indian Indentured Labour would be abolished. This system of indenturing Indian coolies to work as labourers outside India had been instituted in 1842, but it had been always looked upon with disfavour in many quarters, and it had been subjected by the Indian authorities to various regulations and restrictions. In fact, the only non-British possessions to which Indians were permitted to emigrate as indentured labourers in recent years was Dutch Guiana. Emigration under these conditions was, however, permitted to various British Colonies, such as Jamaica, Trinidad, Fiji, and especially British Guiana. The Viceroy stated that although the policy of total abolition had been accepted, the measure could not be put in force immediately, as a transition period would be necessary in order not to upset unduly the affairs of the Colonies which were dependent on this class of labour. The Governor-General pointed out that the system had been abhorred in India, and that "educated Indians looked upon it as a badge of helotry." It had been reported that the smallness of the number of women accompanying the emigrants had been a fruitful cause of a great deal of social degeneration. Lord Hardinge closed his speech by stating that it was a cause of great satisfaction to himself that one of his last official acts in India should be to abolish a system of which he disapproved as heartily as the critics among the educated classes of India.

On March 25 in closing the Budget debate, Lord Hardinge made his last speech in the Legislative Council. In reviewing the past year he stated that the relations with the Persian Government remained most friendly, and that the Amir of Afghanistan had recently renewed his previous promise of neutrality in the great war. In the external affairs of India, nothing worse than a few petty tribal raids was to be feared, but in Bengal a large and regrettable number of cases of dacoities had recently occurred. The most important part of the speech referred, however, to the political development of Hindustan itself. On this point Lord Hardinge said: "During the past few months I have seen mention made in speeches at meetings in the country and in the press of self-government, colonial self-government, and Home Rule for India. I have often wondered whether those speakers and writers fully realise the conditions prevailing in the Dominions, such as Canada and Australia, which render self-government possible. I do not for a moment wish to discountenance self-government for India as a national ideal. It is a perfectly legitimate aspiration. and has the warm sympathy of all moderate men, but in the present position of India it is not idealism that is needed but practical politics. We should do our utmost to grapple with realities, and lightly to raise extravagant hopes and encourage unrealisable demands can only tend to delay and will not accelerate political progress. I know this is the sentiment of wise and thoughtful Indians. Nobody is more anxious than I

am to see the early realisation of the legitimate aspirations of India, but I am equally desirous of avoiding all danger of reaction from the birth of institutions which experience might prove to be premature." The speaker pointed to decentralisation, the endowing of provincial governments with greater powers, as the line along which political progress could be best achieved in the near future. Touching the question of Indian immigration into British Dominions, the Viceroy said that some modification of colonial policy might be expected in the future, but that notwithstanding this Indians would do well to realise that the Dominions held strong ideas on autonomy and were masters in their own houses. The Viceroy then took farewell of the Council.

This speech was notable as containing the ideas of one of the greatest of India's Viceroys on the most important problems of Indian politics.

Lord Hardinge's term of power, which it will be remembered had been specially prolonged, closed a few days later, and the new Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford, arrived at Bombay on April 4.

An extremely disagreeable sensation was caused in June by the death from heat-stroke of a number of Territorial soldiers newly arrived in India, the circumstances being such as to throw grave responsibility upon the high officers concerned in the matter. On June 5, 13 Territorial officers with 1,013 men, who had only just landed from the transport Ballarat, were sent by train from Karachi to Lahore. The district crossed in this journey is notoriously one of the hottest in all India, and the occurrence took place, as already stated, during the hot season of the year. During the journey to Lahore, no fewer than fifty cases of heat-stroke occurred, and twelve of these proved fatal. The action of the authorities in sending unacclimatised troops upon such a journey as this, and evidently provided with insufficient accommodation, was stigmatised in some quarters as carelessness and negligence.

On September 7 the new Viceroy presided at the opening of the session of the Imperial Legislative Council, and made a speech of considerable general interest. Lord Chelmsford said that the Government were asking the Council to assist in the Government's efforts to check the secret intrigues of the enemy in India and to eradicate the taint of German and Austro-Hungarian influence in the trade of the sub-continent. The Government were hoping to develop in many ways the trade of the Indian Empire, and they were carefully studying the question of trade after the war. At the Imperial Conference, India would be represented and consulted with other parts of the Empire. Referring to the proposed scheme of sending Indian labourers to the Colonies, the Viceroy said that this scheme ought to be approached with caution. No uncontrolled recruiting of labourers would be allowed, and coolies would not be permitted to leave India without proper protection and proper safeguards.